Ethereal Redemption Chapter 25

PAM’S POV.I need, some new stilettos, can’t walk, down the street in those
You are who you wear, it’s true, a girl’s just as hot as the shoes she choose
J’adore Weitzman, habillez-moi Louis, Dolce Gabbana, Alexander McQueen, et oh, Merde I love those Manolo
Fashion put it all on me, don’t you want to see these clothes on me
Fashion put it all on me, I am anyone you want me to be
Fashion put it all on me, don’t you want to see these clothes on me
Fashion put it all on me, I am anyone you want me to be
~ Fashion, Lady Gaga

I strutted out of Fangtasia, pausing to adjust my corset and tugged my leather jacket a little tighter around my slender frame. Of course, being a vampire means I never feel the cold. However, I still like to don jackets every now and then, they add a certain something to an outfit. I couldn’t wait to get home and swap my corset for my usual twinset. Unfortunately for me, twinsets are not that intimidating for breathers, so they’re not the most suitable attire for the bar.

I extracted the keys to my minivan from my pocket before I slid into the black leather bucket seat; leather is so much easier to clean! I have no time for seatbelts and my lighting fast reactions would ensure my survival should any accident occur, the survival of the breather who caused the accident is another matter entirely…

It took no time at all for me to arrive at the strip mall and I parked my car with ease right at the front of the strip. Slipping out, I locked my vehicle after me: Eric would be angry with me if anything happened to it. At least I had the sense not to take his little baby; the Corvette had been tempting me, my own personal form of payback. Our day man had returned it to the car park of Fangtasia. I had been quick to pull myself in, though; he loves that car more than anything. Sometimes I think he loves it more than he loves me. I laughed internally at the notion, I’m his Childe and he loves me more than anything.

Moving effortlessly in my six-inch stilettos, I entered the first store, surveying the patrons and the racks of clothing. I couldn’t keep the disdain off my face: This wouldn’t do. I was about to exit the store when my eye caught sight of a little red and white floral sundress on a hanger. Didn’t the gash own one just like it? If I remembered correctly, and I always do, she wore it the first time she showed her face at my Maker’s bar, hanging off the arm of the dweeb that is Compton. I remembered my Maker’s face as he observed her; I remembered feeling his lust rise as he took in the demure little dress.

Pursing my lips in contemplation I riffled through the rail, grabbing a size eight and holding it up. I’d always had an eye for knowing the size of people. Perhaps I would buy it for the little faery, it was only $35 after all, and then she would fuck my Maker until dawn and he’d be all smiles and apologies towards me the next night.

Yes. I liked that plan very much.

I plucked a gift bag from a small display on my way to the checkout then handed it to the woman to ring it through the till. If I played my cards right I might even get a little taste of the blonde who seems to have my Maker so firmly wrapped around her little finger. I’d never tasted a faery before, but I have heard they are delicious. With a bored expression, I handed the cash to the woman, not bothering with the card. Thirty-five dollars would be an insult to Amex. Unceremoniously I dumped the folded dress into the bag, closing it and placing it across my wrist. At least Eric will be happy that I’m playing nice.Entering the store next door, I’m greeted with the sight of Hanna, the tasty little shop owner. “Miss Pam! How lovely to see you! We had a special delivery this morning and I set aside a few pieces especially for you!” She beamed at me. I had never been a fan of breathers, but Hanna was polite, efficient and of course, tasty. AB-, the best there is.

Entering the store next door, I’m greeted with the sight of Hanna, the tasty little shop owner. “Miss Pam! How lovely to see you! We had a special delivery this morning and I set aside a few pieces especially for you!” She beamed at me. I had never been a fan of breathers, but Hanna was polite, efficient and of course, tasty. AB-, the best there is.

“Good evening Hanna,” I cooed, observing the store. I was the only one there. Perfect. The one thing I hated more than breathers was being disturbed while shopping. “Shall we get started? What sort of goodies do you have for me this evening?” I asked with a wolfish grin. Although I had stated earlier that I would play nice with Eric’s Amex, I could buy just one or two things with it…I had enough of my own money to get the rest anyway. Besides, I would no doubt need to take some fashion and class to wherever the hell he had skipped off to with my Grandsire and the faery.

“I have a few blouses that might be of interest to you.” Hanna started, flitting towards the back of the store. Moving across the room, I picked out the largest changing room, knowing I would need the space. Setting down my handbag and the gift bag from my recent purchase, I slipped off my jacket and corset, having no qualms about walking around in my leopard print bra. After 109 years I lost all my inhibitions, and it wasn’t like Hanna didn’t have breasts too: She had nice ones at that. Hanna returned carefully carrying four blouses in her hands.

I took a moment to look at the label and cut of the first one, it was Phillip Lim, a sandy coloured silk-chiffon and crepe de chine blouse. Hanna knew I was a fan of pastels and soft colours. I may adorn myself in leather at Fangtasia but that was purely for the vermin. When I was human I had been a lady of wealth, an aristocrat. Some thought of me as a snarky bitch, but I hadn’t always been that way. I’d retained my adoration of soft colours during my turning so whenever I was away from the bar I indulged myself. Slipping the fabric over my head, I admired my reflection as I smoothed the fabric out. While it was beautiful, the cut was far too long for my liking, hiding my butt from clear view. I had been a slender but curvaceous woman at the time of my turning, a perfect figure according to Dear Abby.

Shaking my head, I pulled the fabric off gently, handing it back to Hanna who returned the item to its hanger. I plucked the next blouse from the selection and admired the pale sea foam coloured item. It was Ralph Lauren and I already knew I would take it. Nevertheless, I pulled the blouse on. The ruffles at the front were beautiful, and the pale colouring was fabulous. All I needed was a knee length skirt.

As if reading my mind Hanna disappeared and came back a second later with a matching Ralph Lauren cream leather skirt. “Thank you my dear,” I crooned, batting my eyelashes at her. I heard her heartbeat pick up, and could smell a light dusting of her arousal. Of course, the beautiful woman before me was straight, but the power of the fang was hard to resist.

I shimmied into the leather skirt, taking a step back to look at the outfit as a whole. Perfect. With a satisfied smile, I took both items off, hanging them from a separate hook in the change room. I would most certainly be taking those! I went to remove the next blouse from the pile but wrinkled my nose at the colour. Mustard yellow? Seriously? It may have been Elie Saab, and it may have been chiffon but that was a hideous colour. Without even trying it I handed it to Hanna.

“Don’t you like this one, Miss Pam?” She asked with a sad expression, like a child who’d just been told off.

“Yellow isn’t really my colour, sweet cheeks,” I assured her. Usually, I couldn’t care less for human’s feelings. However, this lovely breather was not only respectful, fashion savvy and tasty but she also understood me to a small degree. She never interrupted me while I was busy trying on clothes, and always seemed to know what I wanted. Instead, I took the next item from the rail as Hanna disappeared to put the yellow blouse back. She returned with a handful of pants and skirts, which she placed aside for me. Checking the label on the lace neck sheer shirt I was pleased to find it was by Alexander McQueen. A British designer, how fitting. The shirt was most definitely sheer, I would need a white bra underneath it, but it was perfect, and the lace added a sense of femininity to it. I added it to my pile.

For the next two hours I tried on clothes and shoes, Hanna would always have more to bring to me, and I found my little shopping trip soothing. I wasn’t used to extreme emotions but I couldn’t help but be nervous about my impending confrontation with my Master. I had clearly upset him, even though he’d been about to meet the fucking true death for a mere mortal woman. I’d only had his best interests at heart.

I’d even treated myself to several pairs of shoes. A pair of Louboutin Lady Highness leather pumps, which I thought highly fitting, a pair of Valentino crystal-embellished suede and mesh sling backs, a pair of Elie Saab platform sandals and a pair of Jeffrey Campbell studded suede wedges. I chucked in a few handbags for good luck.

Hanna had been an absolute star throughout my whole session: Everything I had liked she’d taken to the till, rung up and placed neatly inside bags. Redressing myself, I emerged from the changing room, handbag over my arm, along with the gift bag containing the faery’s dress. Whipping out both my Amex and Eric’s, I handed them both to Hanna, she knew the routine by now. She placed 1/3 on Eric’s and 2/3 on mine.

It was then that a foul stench flooded my nostrils and I had to hold back a gag at the vile smell. Were. My body naturally went into high alert and I grabbed both Amex cards back from Hanna as she finished with them. Using my heightened senses, I swept the area. There were four of them, and they were outside, in the front of the store. Shit.

“Hanna my dear, what do you think of my new eye shadow?” I placed the perfectly innocent question, but the moment she raised her head I pulled her under my glamour. “Hanna, we spent a wonderful evening here trying on clothes and dressing up, now you’re going to go home once I’ve left the store and go straight to bed because it’s late, okay?” I told her.

Yawning, Hanna raised a hand to her mouth politely, “It is a little late,” she agreed. I gathered my bags and gave her a small smile: Smiling isn’t something I commonly do, especially in public, and most certainly not around breathers: However, Hanna wouldn’t remember the truth come morning. I decided that rather than act on the impulse to make myself as big and scary as possible, I would lull the wolves into a false sense of security by pretending that I hadn’t noticed them in any way. I had no idea why they were there, but I could bet it had something to do with Russell. Now that he was free he was undoubtedly seeking revenge against Eric for staking Talbot. He’d probably want Sookie too because she could offer him the sunshine for a few minutes each day. As much as I hate her, the thought of Russell draining her dry wasn’t a pleasant one.

Without pausing to give the wolves any hope of getting me, I moved back to my minivan in a casual saunter: Fast enough to seem like I had other errands to run, yet not so fast that I gave away the ruse. I stashed my shopping away in the back before hopping into the driver’s seat. I could smell the wolves all around my van, which only fuelled my suspicion that they were after Eric, or me, or both of us. Dawn was a few hours away still but I would need to find somewhere suitable to go to ground. I owned a safe house a few miles out of Shreveport that would be suitable, a selection of clothes and essentials were there and I could take those with me to wherever the hell Eric was.

First I would have to lose the Were’s.Pulling out of the strip mall I emerged onto the main road and seconds after pulling out, another car started to tail me. Rolling my eyes at their stupidity I had to snicker. Being subtle clearly wasn’t their thing. I decided to drive around a little bit, stopping outside a few different houses before pulling on and continuing.

Pulling out of the strip mall I emerged onto the main road and seconds after pulling out, another car started to tail me. Rolling my eyes at their stupidity I had to snicker. Being subtle clearly wasn’t their thing. I decided to drive around a little bit, stopping outside a few different houses before pulling on and continuing. Eventually, I allowed myself to put my foot down and whizzed off into the night, leaving the Weres far in the distance. While my vehicle was larger than your average car I’d had it customised, a supercharged V8 engine was a useful thing to have as it turned out.

Triple-checking that I was not being followed, either on foot or by a vehicle, I pulled into a gated community and drove at a sensible pace so as not to draw attention to myself. I pulled up to my garage and clicked the garage door opener inside my car and the door slid up. I waited for the door to shut before cutting the engine and gathering my belongings. I unlocked the door from the garage to the house using both a key and a code and was soon within my own space. I didn’t bother with lights, as not only would it alert people that someone was home; it was unnecessary since my vision was impeccable. My home backed up on to a woodland area and I gave the treeline a cursory glance, not sensing anyone or anything out there.

I carefully placed the shopping bags down on the floor rather than the table top. My human mother had told me that placing new shoes on the table would only bring bad luck, such as the death of a family member. Of course, now I was immortal I should have dropped the notion, but it had frightened me so much as a young girl that I had kept the little saying in my undead life. Eric and Godric were the only family members I had left and I couldn’t stand the thought of anything happening to them.

It was too close to dawn for me to travel, not to mention the time differences. I had no idea where Eric was, and if he had gone further towards the east coast then the sun would have already taken him for the day, and if he was on the west coast then he may be arriving at his destination. Checking on our Maker-Childe bond I was disappointed to find that we were too far apart for it to work properly. I could get Eric’s basic emotions but anything above that was difficult. No, I would wait until sunset before contacting him.

After double-checking all of my door and window locks, I closed all of the curtains and blinds before I collected my bags of shopping. Moving to a bookshelf in my living room, I gave it a shove and it moved aside to reveal the entrance to my safe room. Once I entered the alphanumeric code I was granted access to my sleeping quarters. I’d had light-tight shutters fitted on the bedrooms upstairs but I felt the need to sleep underground this evening. As I walked down the stairs, the bookshelf slid back into place followed closely by the doors, which locked automatically.

My basement was a mini replica of the house upstairs; the walls were off-white and the carpet cream. One corner of the room was a small kitchen with a microwave and fridge, another corner was a small living area complete with a flat screen TV and a comfy sofa and the whole other side of the room was my bedroom. I had a large four-poster bed down here, exactly like the one I had owned during my human years. I also happened to have rails upon rails of clothes down here: I’d filled all the wardrobe space upstairs. Slipping my jacket and heels off I removed the rest of my clothing before grabbing my old Louis Vuitton trunks: Eric had bought them for me the night I rose a vampire as a present, a promise of a good future and a promise that he would take care of me. He’d lived up to his promise so far.

Grabbing all my new purchases I transferred them to the two cases, grabbing a few other items from the rails before locking the trunks and leaving them next to the door. I removed my passport and a wad of cash from the safe, just in case I had to travel far. I would contact Eric as soon as I rose. I got into bed and lay amongst the silk sheets, waiting for the dawn to take me. It was strange being alone in Shreveport, not knowing where Eric was. Of course, I missed my Maker and I didn’t like how we had left things. His note gave me hope though that we would patch things up.

The next time I opened my eyes it was sunset; however, I didn’t wake to the usual silence I had come to expect from my safe houses. Instead, I woke to the sound of doors slamming, furniture being overturned and the sound of male voices. SHIT. Scrambling out of bed I pulled my clothes on quickly, grabbing my cell phone from the counter and shoving it into my pocket. How the hell did they get into my house? How the hell did they know it was here? Did they even know I was here?

Slowly and silently I approached the door, knowing full well it would protect me to some degree. I was unsure where Eric was or what he was doing so I couldn’t contact him yet to ask about his location. Pressing my ear to the door I listened in on the male voices.

“You sure the blonde one was here?” one of them gruffly questioned.

“Yeah, tall, blonde and skinny. We followed ‘er van out here, dunno where she’s gone, though,” he cursed.

“Maybe she done a runner?” Another man offered

“Don’t be ridiculous, piece a ass like that don’t do no runner,” the second man responded.

So, they were looking for me. Interesting.“We’ll wait ‘ere for

“We’ll wait ‘ere for ‘er then, she’s bound to come ‘ome sometime,” one more male voice added. Their heartbeats matched the patterns of Were’s, specifically the ones from last night. I needed to get out of there and get away: If they intended to spend the night in my home then I would need to act quickly and catch them off-guard before they started to anticipate my return. I wouldn’t be able to take my van with me, that would be too obvious and it seemed they could track it. Shit, I hadn’t gone over it for bugs before pulling up to my house! No wonder they found me, shit! Eric had taught me that was one of the first things to do when you suspected someone was following you. My momentary lapse in judgment last night could have cost me my undead life if I’d decided to rest in one of the bedrooms.

Grabbing my passport and cash I stashed both in my pocket, zipping it shut to keep both items, plus my phone, secure. Thankfully when I had been turned I had been given the gift of speed. All vampires were naturally fast, they appeared as blurs to humans. However, I was even quicker. Eric may be able to fly but I could run like the wind. I grabbed my two trunks, which weighed next to nothing in my hands, even though they were packed to bursting. Moving to the other side of the room I entered a different alphanumerical code in to a small panel in the wall. A concealed door popped open and I moved through it, shutting it behind me. Climbing the stairs before me, I entered another code in to a panel in the wall, and this time a door above me opened. I’d had a cellar door built in to the back of my home and I’d connected it to my underground resting place. Eric had taught me to always have an alternative escape route.

The woodland area at the back of my home looked clear. Steeling myself, I ran for it. The cellar doors slammed shut behind me, the noise making me scowl as I ran. The Weres heard the commotion and whipped their heads in my direction, growling as they shifted into their animal forms, starting to pursue me. They followed me into the woods and I made sure to take difficult winding routes just to frustrate them. I also took great pleasure in the fact that two of the wolves found themselves face planting tree trunks.

My speed gave me the advantage and I soon lost the remaining Were’s near Monroe. It only took me twenty minutes to get back to Shreveport, and I went straight to the regional airport. Slowing down as I approached the entrance, I set my bags down on the floor; I took my phone from my pocket and sent a quick text to my Maker.

I’m all done here, Master. Where are you staying? I will get the next flight there.

I didn’t feel the need to fill him in on the wolf attack just yet and worry him; I would prefer to tell him in person. Moments later I received my reply.

Las Vegas, I’ll send someone to meet you at the airport.

Vegas huh? The perfect place to wear my new leather dresses!

Trotting to the check-in desk I asked the brunette behind the counter for a ticket on the next plane to Vegas, luckily it would be leaving within the hour.

Purchasing my ticket I presented my passport as confirmation of my identity before sending my luggage through to the hold. With no hand baggage, security was easy. Once in the departure lounge, I bought myself the latest copy of Vogue and a bottle of blood. I had only been sat for about twenty minutes, reading up on the latest trends this fall and making mental notes of everything I wanted to buy, when my gate was called. I stood, smoothing out my outfit and scooped up my magazine before sauntering to the gate. Presenting both my ticket and my passport to the stout woman at the desk, she allowed me access to the plane.

4 thoughts on “Ethereal Redemption Chapter 25”

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